download file

Traditional Polish cuisine
Sauerkraut soup
The filling is being prepared of boiled potatoes,
roasted buckwheat groats, fat cottage cheese,
cream, eggs, salt, pepper and mint.
Potatoes and flour are very important elements
of the Lublin region cuisine. These are
mainly included in such dishes as: lemieszka (or
prażucha) kiszka ziemniaczana, babka ziemniaczana,
blaszak, zawijas nasutowski and Lublin
bliny.
Forszmak is a dish famous merely in the Lublin
region and grown into the regions dish from
Jewish cuisine. This is a kind of goulash. To prepare
it, diced roasted meat or cold meat, boiled
potatoes and pickled cucumbers can be used.
This is merely part of the culinary tradition
of this region. The List of Traditional Products
includes 84 of them, and there are many that
have not been registered so far.
Another area in the Eastern Poland is the
Podkarpacie. It was not a historically rich region,
which is why dishes were prepared there
usually of cheap and available ingredients, i.e.
potatoes, cabbage and groats. The most popular
traditional products of this region include:
proziaki, kugiel, bulwiok, haluszki, krupiak,
panepuchy, małdrzyki as well as various types
of sour soups and dumplings. As many as 100
of these products and dishes were entered on
the List of Traditional Products of the Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Podkarpacie region is famous for dishes
with mysterious names behind which simple
dishes are hidden. These are e.g. hartacze,
krężałki, kugiel, bulwiok, hałuszki, małdrzyki, szabanka,
bałabuchy or krupniok. These local delicacies
can be bought in local shops, from farmers'
wives or at agritourism farms. Delicious dumplings
or sour soup that, prepared on the spot, has
unique flavor and aroma thanks to great ingredients
produced in the Podkarpacie region, can be
tasted everywhere. The mysterious names of the
dishes come from the Łemkowska and Ukrainian
cuisine that have strongly influenced the culture
and tradition of this region for centuries.
One of the oldest recipes passed by the inhabitants
of the region for generations over 150
years are the Podkarpacie proziaki, commonly
called prosiaki. These are pancakes, similar in
smell and texture to bread, baked on a round or
rectangular kitchen table. They taste best with
the addition of fresh country made butter, sweat
cream or cold milk.
The flisacki bread, called also chrupacki and
plum jam from Krzeszów fried in large copper
cauldrons without sugar.
Cabbage has been cultivated in the Podkarpacie
region for many years and has been very
popular here. Therefore, it is one of the traditional
dishes of this region. Both white and
sauerkraut (cabbage) is used. Regional dishes
prepared of cabbage or with the addition of cabbage
include: gołąbki pilzneńskie, sauerkraut
soup, lasowiacka cabbage with pearl barley,
dumplings filled with cabbage and mushrooms,
parowańce with cabbage and mushrooms.
In the 15 th century, in the territory of today's
Podkarpacie, Wołosi – shepherd people from
the Balkans settled down. They had taught the
local people to make cheese of goat milk earlier
than the territory was entered by sheep-breeding.
Such old recipes of Wołosi are used here at
present and according to them, Wołoski goat
cheeses – natural (white) and smoked are being
produced. These are delicious!
It can be said that the traditional cuisine of
eastern Poland is a very interesting and tasty
combination of culinary customs of much diversified
origins. These regions are worth visiting
and the cuisine of eastern Borderlands is
worth tasting!
Ewa Woicka-Bekas
Agency for Restructuring
and Modernisation of Agriculture
60
Autumn 2011